Riomaggiore | Meg Travels

Part of the fun of travel is bringing back souvenirs that have memories of where and when they were purchased. I have lots of postcards and refrigerator magnets but some of my favorite souvenirs are things I can look at such as art prints and calendars. I also like things I can wear like scarves and bracelets. When I was in Italy I wanted to find some unique souvenirs, but where should I start? Wherever I went there were so many choices it was difficult to decide. As I looked around I saw possibilities like these:

Interesting choices

Souvenirs and flowers

These won’t last long…

Wearable souvenirs

So colorful!

It’s a good idea to stop for some refreshments along the way.

Souvenirs

But instead of fruit I decided to stop for a gelato and this photograph is a great souvenir!

gelato

When I was in Italy in May one of my favorite experiences was taking a train from La Spezia to see the villages of the Cinque Terre. The first stop was the village of Riomaggiore. It had been raining when I boarded the train in La Spezia but as the train pulled into the station at Riomaggiore the storm had ended and the clouds were transitioning to blue sky. It was late morning and an ideal time for a walk, although it was challenging because the sidewalks were so steep.

Many levels of buildings

Follow this sign!

A door to…

The water

Steep steps

While walking I couldn’t decide whether to look at the buildings, some with laundry hanging from terraces, or do a little souvenir shopping. Another thought was to look for a gelato shop and keep walking. Since they were such interesting possibilities I decided to do all of them!

A little shopping

Laundry day

Non-gelato food choices

Lemon scented soap

Souvenir shop

Although this chair looked inviting for a little rest, I had a train schedule to follow to get to the other villages so eventually I had to walk back to the station to catch a train to Manarola, another village in the Cinque Terre. I’ll tell you about that soon.